Lake Mathews

Situated in southwest Riverside County near the Santa Ana
Mountains – about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles – Lake
Mathews is a
major reservoir in Southern California. The lake is the
terminus of the Colorado River
Aqueduct, accepting water that’s traveled 242
miles from Lake Havasu – a reservoir on the Colorado River
at the California/Arizona border. It supplies water used by
members of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California.

History

While still under construction, it was called “Cajalco
Reservoir,” allegedly derived from Gabrielino Indian and
Spanish words until renamed in 1940 in honor of W.B. Mathews,
the attorney who drafted the laws creating both the Hoover Dam and Metropolitan
Water District.

The dam that created the
reservoir was finished in 1939, and water was first delivered to
the public in 1941. Twenty years later, the building of two dikes
increased the holding capacity to its current 182,000 acre-feet, raising the water
level by 33 feet.

Wildlife

The 13,000 acres surrounding the reservoir is protected land
called the Lake Mathews Estelle Mountain Reserve, an important
resting area for birds such as ducks, cormorants, grebes, golden
eagles and bald eagles.

To protect water quality, Lake Mathews is not open for
recreational use.